| Pain and pain relief medication are two things that | | | | According to studies, the people who are at the |
| everyone is going to end up having to deal with. | | | | highest level of risk are the ones that have |
| Everyone feels pain, which is among the many | | | | become addicted to substances before. Former |
| natural responses the body has that serve as a | | | | opium abusers are more likely to develop an |
| way to keep a person from doing something | | | | addiction to morphine, while former morphine |
| inexplicably stupid. However, pain is also something | | | | users have a lower tolerance for the effects of |
| that most people don't want to have to deal with, | | | | heroin. However, it does not always have to |
| especially if the pain is chronic and gets in the way | | | | come down to derivatives of opium. Statistics |
| of performing daily tasks. Pain relief medication | | | | show that even if the previous addiction was |
| gives a reprieve from such problems, though | | | | unrelated to pain relief medication, the risks were |
| these drugs can sometimes have a negative | | | | still increased by a noticeable amount. Family |
| effect of their own on the body. Even if the pain | | | | members who have become addicts in the past |
| relief medication being used isn't derived from | | | | also apparently increase the risk of addiction in an |
| opium, medications of this sort can still become | | | | individual, though it is unknown if this is caused by |
| highly addictive. | | | | an inherited genetic trait or if "families of addicts" |
| Everyone is at risk when it comes to becoming | | | | are more a product of nurture than nature. |
| addicted to pain relief medication, but not | | | | Withdrawal is just as bad as the addiction itself, |
| everyone is going to develop a problem. For the | | | | particularly if the drug was an opioid. The body |
| most part, the most narcotic pain killers (such as | | | | undergoes the standard symptoms of undergoing |
| morphine, opium, and heroin) are easily the most | | | | withdrawal from a narcotic substance. For |
| addictive, but are also the ones that people are | | | | example, the early stages are easily characterized |
| least likely to be exposed to. Morphine is usually | | | | by an overwhelming inability to perform the |
| used as a last resort by most doctors, particularly | | | | simplest tasks or endure even small amounts of |
| with non-narcotic alternatives already available. | | | | stress without some amount of the drug in their |
| There are other instances where morphine might | | | | system. The body sometimes goes into a state |
| be used, though these are usually cancer patients | | | | of prolonged shock if deprived of the drug, with |
| and those who are undergoing post-surgery | | | | shivering, palpitations, excessive sweating, and |
| treatment. The doses of morphine for these | | | | occasional muscle spasms being part of the |
| people are usually in small amounts, which may or | | | | package. The psychological impact is also notable, |
| may not be enough to develop a physical or | | | | especially since pain relief medication addiction can |
| psychological addiction to the effects. In these | | | | linger in the mind far longer than it does in the |
| cases, it often comes down to a matter of | | | | body. |
| tolerance to the drug. | | | | |